Lab Book #14, Part 5: the Strong Man

In this installment of the lab book #14 series I attempt to convey the impression of strength and support with a network of flowing lines that converge on a character (the strong man) in the bottom left of the picture. In the middle a cartoon cat helps take some of the weight with a smile. As with the other paintings in this series I repeat a signature rusty-red colour throughout the design, and also give a glimpse into the outdoors (just below the cat) where there is a blue sky and trees. When I make a doodle painting I go through my lab notes page by page, copying the doodles into the finished painting. Because I go through the pages in order, it is often a challenge to try and fit a random doodle into a larger painting with an established theme. This painting in particular was difficult, as there was really no person in my doodles, nor any kind of barbell or obvious image that would covey a circus strong man. My strategy then, was to put a lot of elements in the top of the design, making it top-heavy, and then connecting these elements to the character at the bottom. To note, I have just completed the final part of this series, Part 9, the Fire Eater, last weekend. That makes 9 lab-book paintings completed under three months! 

Lab Book #14, Part 5: the Strong Man, watercolour 12 x 16" hot press, 2009 (No. 1804)

Eiffel Tower View from Montmarte, Paris, France

In the north of Paris lies Montmarte, a 130m mountain with the extraordinary Sacre-Coure basilica on top, and not to mention a lot of tourists. Popular for it's view, Montmarte was a famous meeting spot for artists, and now seems to be an expensive 'yuppie' (or the French equivalent) upperclass neighborhood teeming with souvenir stands and rather cheap looking artwork. At least there was no McDonalds. The funny thing about it, was that if you got off the crowded streets by even a block or two, there were virtually no people and you could enjoy the peacefulness of this very classy and beautiful district. Behind the hazy silhouette of the Eiffel tower is the distant blurr of the horizon. To paint this effect requires careful timing. You start with the pink/blue sky, and when it is still fairly wet add in the horizon. Wait for it to dry, and then put on the Eiffel tower. While you are waiting for the background to dry (which could take between 1 minute and 10 minutes depending on the humidity), work on a different part of the painting. I worked on the details of the cars in the foreground and the rooftops near the front while I waited for the sky and horizon to dry (and also waited for an annoying tourist to get out of the way). The very last thing was the lamp post in the foreground, which was painted right on top of the other layers. 

Eiffel Tower View from Montmarte, watercolour 7.5 x 11" cold press, 2009 (No. 1240)

Lab Book #14, Part 4: the Trapeze Artist

By the time I did part 4 of the Lab Book 14 mini-series I had abandoned the idea that each scene would take place in the setting of a circus tent. as you can see in the painting, the main character (the trapeze artist) is flying across the horizon, hoping to catch the hands of her partner (in the upper right of the picture). Unfortunately the partner does not have any hands. In the background is a lake and a sunset with a dirty smoke stack, in the foreground is a collection of clutter tastefully arranged.

Lab Book #14, Part 4: the Trapeze Artist, watercolour 12 x 16" hot press, 2006 (No. 1803)

 

Exit Signs (the Revolving Door of Fate) study

Resulting from a series of strange dreams I had, this painting depicts a figure crossing a bridge and heading for the exit sign. In spiritual readings such as tarot or runes, there is a death symbol, the dead man card, and the yew-symbol, respectively. In both divination systems death does not have to mean physical death, nor does it have to necessarily be the end of something in your life, but it can indicate the transition phase of a person, less ominously, it can thus mean a new beginning. This painting also has the meaning of 'exiting' something, but also has the flowering vines suggestive of life, and notice that the door and window have blue sky, revealing that there is something after the exit. An alternate interpretation is that the figure is himself entering the picture (coming from the door) as it has not been made obvious which way the character is going. The 'revolving door of fate' may be a better name for the painting? Perhaps I will include that in the title.

I tried to make a larger version of this painting and I have to say it was quite a disappointment. There are some designs that simply belong on a smaller format such as this one. All to often I see a large oil painting offered at an art store, and think, it would have been much better on a smaller format. Unfortunately the decoration market (something nice to hang on your big, empty wall) has driven the size of paintings up and up, and also driven the quality of paintings generally down (or at least into a homogenous din). I wonder if modern art has suffered in the last hundred years as other forms of visual art have taken over (colour photos, posters, and now digital picture displays), and the remaining niche for art is to act as a sort of distilled down wallpaper in a frame?

Exit Signs (the Revolving Door of Fate) study, watercolour 7.5 x 11" cold press, 2002 (No. 1348a)

Catamaran, Barbados

Ahhhh, the sun...lest we forget what sunlight looks like I offer another Barbados painting for your viewing pleasure. A catamaran is parked peacefully upon the shore, the brisk warm wind creating ripples in the topaz-coloured water and ruffling the sail. And for 20US a local Bajan would take you out for a ride. Of course the locals always try to charge as much as they can, I got nicked on the cab ride from the plane, it turns out that any cab ride in Barbados can not cost more than 20 bajan (10 US), next time I will know! Here is a great example of the 'English style' of watercolour painting, which means that no white paint is used. All of the white highlights (the clouds, the sunlight on the boat, the ripples in the water) had to be kept as white paper without any paint on it. Even the sail and the pontoons were virtually white paper with light grey washes. It helps a lot to think ahead when you start as to where the highlights will be, and then remember to keep this spaces free. Putting in an outline helps but be careful because a heavy pencil or paint outline will spoil the effect of the highlight. Ideally you have an outline-free highlight because hard edges make it look fake...better to blurr the edges a bit with clean water. 

Catamaran Rockley Beach, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press November 2001 (No. 1176)

Lab Book #14, Part 3: The Magician

At this point I was really on a roll with the Lab Book #14 series. The concept of a surrealistic circus had begun to wane a little, in this edition the actual Magician is barely recognizable (he is the character on the right with the egg-shaped head), however it still stays true to the overall feel of the series. The signature red-brown colour appears throughout the work, the design is flowing and organic, and the colour scheme is pure psychedelic. On that note, I was listening to the Beatles Abbey Road album and was particularly inspired by John Lenon's Walrus song...the lyric 'egg man' appears next to the egg shaped head. How have I been taking these digital pictures of my artwork? The type of camera does not really matter for these small on line images, for the initial pictures I was using the old power shot A20 model from ten years ago. The key factor really is the type of light. Indoor light (even under a regular 100 watt light bulb) is really the worst, the result comes out all orangy-brown. If the flash goes off, then the colours get all washed out. By far the cheapest strategy is to wait for a a really sunny day, and go outside....put the painting on the ground and stand over the picture (careful not to put your shadow or foot in the way). More expensive is to get some real studio lights with strong bulbs, which I do not have (although 'image of brain repair' was done in this way by professionals). The nice thing about having the indoor lights is that you can use them in the winter. I am only now posting the Lab Book 14 paintings done in January because I had to wait over a month for the sun to come out! 

Lab Book #14, Part 3: the Magician, watercolour 12 x 16" hot press, 2008 (No. 1802)

Escaping the Act

We all have days when we feel a little bit like the fellow in this picture, trying to juggle on a shaky pole with snakes and crocodiles waiting underneath for you in a flaming pit. Meanwhile, a group of uptight looking scientists take notes on your performance. Eyes cast to the exit, you see a nice, warm looking beach, ahh, how do I get there? The source of my inspiration for this painting is indicated on the cave wall, in primitive cave-painting style the T cell-receptor system (subject of my Ph.D.) is depicted. Yes, the comparison with my Ph.D. comprehensive exam (an oral examination that lasts for 4 hours), and this painting, are hard to avoid. This painting provides another good example on how to depict fire. The light from the flames is reflecting on the aligators back, the pit, and the three dudes standing near the pit. Notice the lab coat being worn by one of the judges has orange in the front, fading to blue in the back. There is also a second light source in this painting, the exterior blue sky, which reflects on the cave floor, and on the character on the pole. I wanted the light to emphasize the theme...the judges are connected to the fire (the stress), while the character is connected to the exterior (the escape), and the light-reflections described above reinforce this connection visually. also, the charcters eyes are looking at the exit, further making the point that he wants to get the hell out after he is done his act. 

Escaping the Act, watercolour 10 x 14" hot press, 2002 (No. 1342)

Lab Book #14, Part 2: the Tightrope Walker

This is the second installment in the Lab Book#14 series, called the tight rope walker. The overall series is titled 'Three Ringed Flying Circus on Wheels' as I try to keep a circus theme which each one. There are currently seven parts, with number 8: 'the burlesque dancer' nearly done. In Part 2, a character holds a 'rather limp' balance beam as he tries to negotiate across a thin wire. At the end of the wire an alien feeds the wire into the gaping mouth of a giant. Other characters and shadowy figures look on. The picture is set in a tent, and in the middle you can see the tent parting to see the blue sky and trees beyond. In each of the Lab Book 14 paintings I use a signature colour combination-a deep red-brown (in Part 2 you see it in the background at the top and the the left of the walker). To make this red-brown, I put down a layer of pure alizarin crimson (PR83), and when it dries I cover it in viridian (a dark green). This technique is called glazing (when you superimpose layers of paint), and it creates a final colour far more vibrant than if you just mix the two colours together. I also used glazing in the giants head. First, I put down a gentle blue/purple, and then overlay with a sharp pink-orange. If you get it right it looks like real skin. Too much orange or red though and it looks like Barbie with a bad tan. 

 Book #14, Part 2: the Tight Rope Walker, watercolour 12 x 16" hot press, 2009 (No. 1801)

Youth Hostel Front Door, Valencia, Spain

Like a fool, I arrived in Valencia, Spain in the middle of the night only to find the hotel was not yet open for the season. Some people recommended a youth hostel to me, giving me directions in broken English . There I was in the middle of a strange town at night, with only a vague idea on where I was walking, and hardly a soul to keep me company. By some miracle I turned a corner and there it was, the youth hostel. I was greeted by several other happy travelers and the hostel owner, a former traveler himself, he shared some wine from a wine skin and we all rejoiced. He told us that he had designed the hostel to feel like a home- and that it did, the wood walls, the old lamps, the comfortable couches, and of course the good company. The next day I made a painting of the exterior, with the blue awning and Spanish flag, the yout hostel international logo to the right of the door, and of course that cloudless blue Spanish sky that makes me feel warm just thinking of it.

There are several shadows in this painting that give it a 3-dimensional feel. The Sun was just over my right shoulder, side-lighting the scene and creating long, sloping shadows. One of the shadows comes from an unseen object on the right of the scene, the other prominent shadow is cast by the blue awning. The awning has two other shadows, one on the very top of it, cast by the relief from the roof edge, and the other shadow on it's front, cast be the awning itself. I painted the shadows last, on top of the background colours, using a purply-brown version of the background colour. Usually I have some of the actual colour mixture left on the pallette, and just drop in some sky-blue and a touch of deep red, maybe some green, and voila! When dry, I put a few dark highlights on top of the shadows (e.g. dark bricks, and a dark blue box on the left of the door) to complete the illusion of a luminous shadow.

Youth Hostel Front Door, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1998 (No. 0889)

Le Louvre, abstact memory, France

After spending a chilly day walking around Paris, in particular near the Louvre, I did this painting in the evening relying purely on my memory and my impressions of a scene just north of le Louve. On the left lies a famous cafe, while in the middle/background is the Louvre itself, while on the right is another cafe with two people (red and green) seen in the window being served by a fairly rude waiter. Ghostly figures walk around the cobblestone street. I was inspired by Van Gogh's painting of a cafe at night-he created a warm interior lighting in a cold starry-sky night- the feeling of which which I tried to replicate here. This painting is a sort of 'alternate view', in that I combined surrealism (dreamlike) and fauvism (bright primary complements) with traditional landscape. In most of my paintings I use complementary colour schemes throughout the work. The basic complementary colours are red/green, blue/orange, and yellow/purple. In this painting there are several examples. The sign of the cafe on the right has a red background, with a green part of the wall just to the side. The sidewalk below is orange (suggesting light from the cafe) and fades to blue. Orange and blue are also used in the entrance to the Louvre. The scene in the cafe to the left uses yellow lighting, with dark purple shadows. Also, most of the brick work has similar complements , although it is subtle...the greys are all tinted towards one colour or another. In this way, even the grey bricks are vibrant and exciting to the eye. 

Le Louvre, abstract memory, watercolour 7.5 x 11" cold press 2009 (No. 1246)

Fourviere Basilic, seen from Bellecour Square, Lyon, France

On a recent trip to France I had the chance to sit in the Bellecour Square, a famous square in Lyon noted for it's size and historical significance. Up on the mountain is Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière, with a gilded statue of the virgin Mary seen against a backdrop of an overcast (cold and snowy) sky. In fact, the snow was coming down as I painted, a rarity for this part of France (does the snow just follow me wherever I am??). The biggest challenge with this one was trying to paint with my gloves off, which eventually resulted in severe numbness, and then painting with my gloves on, which made it tough to manipulate the brush. At any rate, the results were quite satisfying, I especially enjoy the sparkling golden statue. A local came by and said they liked the painting, of course speaking French to me, I could only respond 'merci-buckets'.

I'll talk a little about painting people in a landscape. Since they are almost always there, and they never stay still, people present a challenge for the location painter. It is a good idea to try and include people, because it gives an important sense of the environment. In this example, the busy sidewalks indicate the vitality and prosperity of Lyon. Painting people also gives a great chance to build in some exciting colours, the people in this painting have bright red, yellow and red and greens, as well as darker tones, that really provide a nice contrast to the grey-blues-browns of the rest of the painting. To paint a person, just try to keep it simple, the person is not the subject of a landscape, just the decoration. One stroke quick brushstrokes for to signify pants and a shirt, and a little blob of brown or dark black for the hair, then a dot of pink for the skin. For other examples check out the Jazz Fest paintings 7/8/08.

Fourviere Basilic, seen from Bellecour Square, watercolour 7.5 x 11" cold press, 2009 (No. 1249)

Emerald Boats, Miami Beach (Barbados)

Ahhh, to be in Barbados again....at least I can be reminded by looking at this painting, done on one of the many beaches, down in the south west of the island towards Oistins. The funny thing about the beaches is that the locals do not really swim at all, although they do walk out and stand in the water for hours. Perhaps because of the temperature, it is a little chilly, but I did spend a lot of quality time soaking in the topaz Caribbean sea, when I wasn't having a pint of Bank's beer at the open air bar.

This painting uses a wide array of blues and greens, based mostly on the colours cerulean blue and emerald green, to create a rich topaz sensation. These colours, manufactured by Winsor Newton are very opaque, which means that they are a bit thick and need to be diluted with a little extra water. The boat on the left uses the cerulean blue, while the boat on the right uses emerald green. For both boats I created a shadow by putting a layer of purply-yellow over top of the pure colour. The sea was done with a combination of the two colours, and some yellow was added near the beach to make the water appear to have some warm sand showing through. I also used colour contrast elements to bring out the overall topaz-feeling, the red-green in the trees on the distance, and the warm baby blue sky, both serve to enhance the illusion of a shimmering Caribbean sea.

Emerald Boats, Miami Beach (Barbados), watercolour 5 x7" cold press, November 2001 (No. 1177)

Forth Worth Sunset, Texas, USA

On a recent conference down in Fort Worth, Texas I had the chance to do a small painting, just before sunset, of an old post office building, as seen towards the top right of the picture. It was awfully difficult to find a decent landscape scene, as the conference center was in the midst of a commercial/hotel area that kind of reminded me of the twilight zone as there were very few people around and I half expected zombies to appear at night. Fitting then, that I painted a twilight scene. The character of the place is summed up by this painting, the long highway, the lack of tall trees, the highway and traffic lights, and the bike lock up designed with a Texas star (on the right of the picture). And a zombie creeping up behind my shoulder. The colour scheme in this painting is a triad (three colour) of purple/yellow/orange, with accenting yellow green and some darker blues in the metal work. To punch it up a little, I emphasized the colour of the traffic light, which is pure red and greens. Another trick to make the colour scheme work, was to add some little yellow highlights on the bottom of the picture (the sidewalk, the road) in order to give the illusion that the sunset is reflecting all over. You may notice the lamp in the sky (on the left of the picture) has a flower-shaped burst of light coming out of it, which was done by dropping clean water into the sunset, just before the sunset was dry. The result is quite unique, giving the illusion that the lamp is producing light. I will be honest, that effect was a total accident, I was moving my brush over the painting when this giant drop of water fell down, and at first I though the picture was ruined. Anyways, sometimes the accidents turn out to be learning experiences. 

 Forth Worth Sunset, 5 x 7" cold press, fall 2008 (No. 1118)